Teaching Philosophy

“Katie did an excellent job of weaving instruction and discussion together.”- Emerson College student

Writing is an act of translation: translating ideas in your head to words on a page. Demystifying this process is the crucial first step toward becoming a successful writer. I believe in decentralizing authority in the classroom and empowering students by making them value one another’s feedback as much as mine. I try to create a supportive workshop environment where students feel comfortable contributing to discussions and challenging each other in constructive ways.

Academic writing and creative writing are not polar opposites. Whether you’re writing a poem or a critical essay, thinking about your audience and how to keep them reading is necessary. This is why I often draw from my composition and rhetoric pedagogy when teaching creative writing and vice versa. No matter the genre, writing should be clear, dynamic and engaging.